Comments on: For violent national anthems

By: David All

David All — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 19:47:30 +0000

Alan Ji: “Maryland, my Maryland” got to be Maryland’s state song as a post-Civil War concession to the state’s wartime secessionist minority in the interests of reconciliating Union & Confederate sympathizers within the state.

By: sackcloth and ashes

sackcloth and ashes — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:32:45 +0000

‘c) commemorates a British attack on Baltimore during a war in which the Americans generally came off second best’

If ‘The Wire’ is anything to go by, I’m surprised the Redcoats didn’t come a cropper in Pimlico.

‘It’s your duty/ To liberate the people… unless the French send you off to Haiti/to crush a slave revolt.’

Yes, indeed. The Poles were under the fatal impression that Napoleon was their friend. ‘Za Wasza Wolnosc i Nasza’ was a bit of a sick joke when it came to Haiti.

‘The absolute best anthem has to be Land of my Fathers’

Well done that man!

By: Alan Ji

Alan Ji — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 08:37:47 +0000

None of this has told me how Maryland (The US state, not the next railway station east of Olympic Stratford, centre of world attention) got such a tune.

My modest knowledge of the US Civil War tells me that a few slave states remained loyal to the Union and did not secede; Maryland was one of those. So how did a rebel yell become the official song of this state?

By: Paul Kelly

Paul Kelly — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 01:11:33 +0000

Jesus – all those eccentric antique Bundists sounded as uncertain as John Redwood mouthing Hen Wlad fy Nhadau; unlike him they at least knew the language but had forgotten the words. If the subtitles had been in transliterated Yiddish, and not Hebrew I could have sung along to help the old, unrepentant commies out. Bless.

By: Mikey

Mikey — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:51:52 +0000

Internationale in Hebrew did you say? I actually do not know who is in the earlier video but it is clearly in Israel.

By: Gene

Gene — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:27:56 +0000

Point taken – OK can we all sing along to this?

Great video, Mikey. Is it from Israel? Is that Yossi Sarid at the front?

I once attended a May Day demonstration in Haifa, which concluded with the singing of the Internationale (in Hebrew of course) followed by the singing of HaTikvah.

By: Nearly Oxfordian

Nearly Oxfordian — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:24:10 +0000

But the depicted Arab workers certainly have massive tools.

Would you care to rephrase that?

The absolute best anthem has to be Land of my Fathers

Yes, an absolute beauty!

By: Mikey

Mikey — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:13:44 +0000

Point taken - OK can we all sing along to this?

By: Lbnaz

Lbnaz — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 23:13:19 +0000

Mikey, interesting to see the Arabic=socialism, Israel=oppression and Blair and Bush=the contemporary world’s greatest tyrants images that accompanied the Billy Bragg version of The International in your YouTube link. Sorry, I won’t sing along to a video that indicts Israel, the US and the UK as the greatest foes culpable for thwarting the imminent manifestation of international harmony and justice.

Simply adding Tony Blair and either the US or Bush in square brackets after the mention of Jews, Paul Berman’s line, below best explains the unquestioned and sadly unquestionable assumptions informing the person(s) who uploaded that video to You Tube to accompany the singing of The International:

The universal system for man’s happiness would right now have achieved perfection – were it not for the Jews [the US and/or Bush and Tony Blair]. The higher one’s opinion of oneself, the more one detests the Jews [the US and/or Bush and Tony Blair].

By: Paul Kelly

Paul Kelly — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 22:41:40 +0000

Mikey: “Can I just ask everyone to sing along? [youtube - the internationale - billy bragg]”

That must be just about the most painfully uninspired version of The Internationale ever recorded. Billy Bragg aka Dave Spart with a headache doesn’t sing anywhere near as well as our cat – or the admirable one in the cartoon. As for the accompanying illustrative clichés – no comment. But the depicted Arab workers certainly have massive tools.

The absolute best anthem has to be Land of my Fathers